Organisers say they’ve had a very strong response from the candidates for Thursday’s Meet the Candidates forum at Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club ahead of the upcoming Byron Shire Council elections, with 22 due to take part.
Sonia Laverty, from Mullumbimby Residents Association, which is organising the event says each candidate will be given two minutes to address one of three questions the association has put to them, with each group of candidates asked to address all three questions between them.
To ensure that each group gets equal time, four members from each group will be invited to speak. That means that two members of the Labor group will need to sit out during the speeches section of the event but Ms Laverty says ‘we’re more than happy for those two candidates to participate in the Q&A section and sit with their co-candidates at the front of the auditorium.’
‘Prior to the start of the event we will put the names of the leaders of each group in a hat to randomly select the speaking order,’ she said.
The three questions are:
- What do you see as your core responsibilities as a councillor for Byron Shire?
- How do you intend communicating with residents?
- How would you approach reaching a decision on controversial issues?
The forum will take place at Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club on Thursday August 18 at 6.30pm.
